U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,549 discloses and claims a steroid conversion process for making 9.alpha.-hydroxy-3-ketobisnorchol-4-en-22-oic acid (9.alpha.-OH BN acid). The process can be conducted using a mutant of a variety of steroid degrading microorganisms. The mutation process to prepare the mutants is disclosed in the patent. Specifically exemplified is the use of Mycobacterium fortuitum NRRL B-8119.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,236 discloses and claims a process for preparing 9.alpha.-hydroxyandrostenedione (9.alpha.-OH AD). This compound is also produced by the process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,549.
The presence of additional compounds in the fermentation beers disclosed in the above patents was previously recognized, but the identity of the compounds was not known prior to the date of the subject invention. These additional compounds were subsequently shown by advanced identification techniques to be useful steroid intermediates as disclosed herein. Of these compounds, 9.alpha.-OH testosterone is a known compound, whereas the others are novel.